Here is a complete story of what Trump calls “the property of Palm Beach. “
Each article on this page has been selected through an editor of cities and countries. We may win a commission about some of the pieces you buy.
UPDATE, January 20, 2025: Now that Donald Trump has been sworn in as president of the United States, his Mar-a-Lago assets will be back in the spotlight.
Palm Beach Resort made the news in the summer of 2023, after Trump charged 37 fees related to the alleged falsification of classified documents and violation of the Espionage Act. According to him, many of those documents were apparently stored at Mar-a-Lago. In the summer of 2022, the FBI executed an asset search warrant to enter more than 33 boxes of documents.
Below, a history of the property last updated during Trump’s first presidency.
Original, December 2019: Donald Trump likes to call Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach club and catering facility, the “Winter White House,” and while that’s just his nickname for the sprawling Florida estate, there is some precedent for the moniker.
In 1973, the heiress of grains Marjorie Merriweather Post donated her mansion of 128 rooms in Palm Beach to the US government to be used as the “White Winter House”. Post, who had inherited his father’s postum grain company and went to the rich woman in America, finished the structure of Mar-a-Lago in 1927 at a charge of $ 7 million (which is equivalent to approximately $ 120 millions today).
Architects Marion Sims Wyeth and Joseph Urban designed the estate, which sits on 20 acres that border the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway on the other. (Wyeth also designed the Florida governor’s mansion in Tallahassee).
Post sought that the United States government went to the death of the president, with the aim of being used as a hot climate withdrawal for the president. But in 1981, the Government returned Mar-A-Lago, which had been declared a national historical milestone a year earlier, to the Post Foundation, which offers its annual annual maintenance charge of $ 1 million.
Enter Donald Trump. La first offering of LA Tycoon it was reported that the assets, $28 million, have been lowered, but he persisted and the market crashed. Trump ended up getting the assets for the relative value of $5 million in 1985 and paid $3 million for Post’s antiques and furniture.
(In addition to Mar-a-Lago, Post had a bountiful genuine real estate portfolio that included an Adirondacks retirement, a Long Island mansion, a yacht she designed herself, the largest personal yacht at the time, and a Washington, D. C. , D. C. estate, Hillwood, which is now a space museum containing her vast collection of jewelry, Sèvre porcelain, fabergé and French masterpieces).
Trump turned Mar-a-Lago into a private club in 1995 and built a 20,000-square-foot ballroom with $7 million in gold leaf. He commandeered a coat of arms that British authorities in 1939 had granted to Joseph Edward Davies, Post’s third husband, then replaced “Integritas,” the Latin word for integrity, with “Trump.” He also spent $100,000 on four gold-plated sinks. Basically, much like his Fifth Avenue penthouse, there is gold everywhere you look. (When Trump is in residence, he and his family stay in a private wing of the house.)
“I have 24 acres in Palm Beach and no one doesn’t look like it,” Trump said on an exhibition hopping occasion there in 2014. “A large space is on an acre. I am 24 years old. (Technically, Mar-a-Lago is on 20 acres. )
In 2016, Anthony Senecal, Trump’s former butler and the unofficial historian of Mar-a-Lago, presented some secrets to The New York Times, describing the library as “Lambrissée de Chêne British Secular and full of rare first-edition books that no one in the circle of relatives has ever read.
Trump has not noticed his eyes with the population of his plans for Mar-a-lago. He fought against the city of Palm Beach along his American flag. The original, installed in 2006, was in an 80 -foot post, although Palm Beach prescriptions prohibit the flag posts of more than 42 feet; A rape has a daily fine of $ 250.
Trump sued for $ 25 million, claiming that his right to lose the speech was violated. Finally, he and the city reached an agreement: it changed to a smaller flag published in a 70 -foot post. And instead of paying fines, he donated $ 100,000 to beneficial veteran organizations.
In 2015, Palm Beach County continued for what it called “deliberate and malicious” moves to direct departing flights from Palm Beach International Airport compared to Mar-a-Lago. The dress was abandoned after the election, obviously, because now there’s a domain that isn’t provided through secrecy at Mar-a-Lago when Trump is in residence.
When he opened Mar-a-Lago, Trump welcomed Jewish members, African-Americans, and gay couples, who had been prohibited from joining other Palm Beach clubs. Club members reportedly used to pay a $100,000 initiation fee and annual dues of $14,000 (along with taxes and an annual food minimum of $2,000) for the privilege of using the facilities. Following Trump’s victory, the inauguration fee went up to $200,000.
It is, by most accounts, a profitable business. Trump made $15.6 million from the club in 2014. His first year in office, he made $25.1 million. Last year, that number dipped slightly to $21.4 million.
To date, Trump has spent 133 days at the property while in office. He took his first trip there as POTUS for the Red Cross Ball in early February 2017 and hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the following weekend. Mar-a-Lago is where he was when he announced Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster as his pick for national security advisor, authorized a missile strike on Syria, and hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a two-day summit. According to the Government Accountability Office, four trips the president took to Mar-a-Lago in 2017 cost taxpayers at least $13.6 million.
In March, Mar-A-Lago closed its doors due to the COVVI-19 pandemic. Three visitors, who added a press secretary through the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, had been positive for the Coronavirus after visiting the club for an organized occasion through President Trump.
Earlier this month, a team of reporters from Miami Herald published The Grifter’s Club: Trump, Mar-A-Lago and the sale of the Presidency, a research story of the “White Winter House” and all commercial businesses and Government: Morales and Morales and Unmoral: that take their position within their walls. Intrigue stories of his palace: According to the reports, Trump prohibited the famous sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein de Mar-a-Lago after the latter hit a teenage daughter of a member.
In any case, it’s apparent that Trump feels more comfortable at Mar-a-Lago than almost anywhere else. He most certainly prefers it over the White House. At Mar-a-Lago, he can let loose and be himself, unbound by strict D.C. protocols and unbothered by scores of aides and handlers.
He also has more friends there, instead of, say, in Manhattan, where Trump, a New York for life, is incredibly unpopular. In fact, in September 2019, he and the first girl replaced her main apartment as Manhattan to Palm Beach, where, she can probably pay the decrease in taxes, and feel more welcome. He explained his resolution on Twitter, saying: “I appreciate New York and the citizens of New York, and I will, however, unfortunately, despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in the city, the city and the local city, Taxes on the city have been treated very badly through the political leaders of the city and the State every year.
Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York has lost the opportunity to explain his emotions about this decision. “A lot of pile,” he tweeted. “It’s as if [Trump] had paid taxes here anyway. He is all yours, in Florida. “
Sam Daguremond is a virtual that contributes in the city
Leena Kim is Town & Country’s Editor, covering the travel, jewelry, style, arts and culture, education, and weddings beats. She has no priors—she has been at the magazine for 11 years, having started her career at T&C as the assistant to the editor in chief.
Donald Trump Sworn In as 47th President
All about Melania Trump’s parents
Donald Trump’s History with the Royals
King Charles sends a message to Donald Trump
Former Living Presidents at Trump’s Inauguration
A history of Bibles in presidential inaugurations
The Trump circle of relatives, explained
Why Ivanka Won’t Joining Her Father’s Admin Again
All of Donald Trump’s houses, in photos
Who Are Donald Trump’s Children?
Controversy in the flags at the inauguration of Trump
Everything You Need to Know About Barron Trump
Part of the hearst virtual media
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
© 2025 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All rights reserved.